Vista Launch Boosts Retail PC Sales

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – February 8, 2007 – Newly released sales information for the week ending February 3, 2007, indicates that U.S. retail consumers warmly embraced Microsoft’s introduction of Vista. Vista was available pre-installed on retail PCs for the first time on January 30, 2007.

Overall unit sales for the week ending February 3, 2007, jumped 173% when compared to the previous week and increased 67% year-over-year. This sales spike is a welcome sight for retailers, given that the preceding five weeks had seen sagging sales for PCs. This slowing was primarily due to a limited amount of inventory, as retailers and OEMs chose to keep their supply of non-Vista products limited in preparation for the Vista transition

Retail PC Year-over-Year Growth

Copyright 2007 Current Analysis, Inc. www.currentanalysis.com

The Vista introduction was a hit not only in terms of overall volume, but also in terms of retail consumers’ preference for the higher-end version of Vista—Vista Home Premium. Vista Home Premium accounted for 70% of PC unit sales in the U.S. retail market during the first full week of Vista’s availability, while Vista Home Basic accounted for 22%.

Additional findings include the following:

• The price difference between Vista Home Premium and Vista Home Basic PCs was considerable, with Vista Home Premium notebooks selling for an average sales price (ASP) of $863 and Vista Home Basic notebooks selling for an ASP $616. Despite this significant price premium, notebook consumers chose Vista Home Premium 76% of the time.
  
• HP was the most aggressive OEM of the Windows Vista introduction, accounting for a 54% share of Vista Home Premium sales and a 53% of Vista Home Basic unit sales. The week prior to the introduction of Vista (the week ending January 27, 2007), HP represented only 33% of all PC retail unit sales.
  

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